Thursday, May 22, 2014

NO:LA Nightwatch: Campaign Seed Final Details (Part Eight)

The last of the pre-campaign bits and pieces I distributed to the players. IN this one I wanted to set up the feeling of the tensions in the city. I believe this was the last thing I handed out to the players before the campaign began. A couple of thoughts about this campaign. One, I like the idea of handed out snippets before a campaign starts. Not a game bible, but little bits and pieces. I think perhaps I did too much work with this one, especially since a good chunk never made it to the table. I need to consider how to more tightly focus what I present. Two, I really like the idea of the PCs picking up the pieces and trying to restore honor to the idea of heroes. I think that's a compelling origin story for a group. And it allows the GM to re-build a setting if they want. I can imagine using Microscope to set up the groundwork for something like this.

While Katrina was diverted from a direct landfall on New
Orleans, the hurricane did damage across the Gulf Coast. In New Orleans
flooding, damage to the levies and an inept evacuation plan exposed problems
with local, state and government responses. However, squabbling over
responsibility and money meant that by the following year, little had been done
to fix the situation. Even before the disaster of Sunder, New Orleans had had a
series of problems with sewage overflows, toxic mold closing whole
neighborhoods, and an inadequate attempt to solidify the city's power grid.
Sunder arrived in an already wounded city and created more havoc-- forcing a
massive badly managed evacuation, flooding as certain primary levies were
destroyed, and widespread physical damage.

The year since then has seen some hopeful responses--
charitable organizations and churches working hard to provide for those left
homeless, the restoration of many of the port facilities, and the re-opening of
the Superdome. But the federal response has been weak, at nest. Much greater
attention has been given to Boston and areas of the north. As well, money has
been strangely disbursed with cash going to areas in Louisiana and neighboring
states only marginally affected by the disasters. This has bred a degree of
resentment and hostility.

Here are a few of the current major issues facing New
Orleans.

Murder

Though Philadelphia and Baltimore are often referred to as
the "murder capitols" New Orleans actually has a murder rate three
times that of those cities. Part of the problem lies in the Louisiana Penal
code--

"In recent years, the Orleans Parish district
attorney's office has released hundreds of suspects under Article 701 of the
Louisiana code of criminal procedure, which states that suspects cannot be held
for longer than 60 days on felony arrest without an indictment. Reasons given
for the lack of charges filed in 701 cases range from incomplete police reports
to overburdened assistant district attorney's who were simply not able to file
an indictment before the 60-day period expired. Unsurprisingly, the city's drug
business began getting the message that felony crimes-even murder-would most
likely end in a 701 release...In 2006 alone, there were nearly 3,000 such
releases, a five- or six-fold increase over pre-flood levels."

Sunder's assault only made the situation worse. In certain
cases, especially those involving paranormal criminals, the DHS was able to
step in and file new charges. However, this has meant the shipping of these
criminals to detention facilities not unlike Guantanamo and charging them as
terrorists. This controversial decision drew more negative publicity and
overlooked the number of super-criminals who did manage to evade prosecution
and imprisonment.

Today's gang members refer to the practice as
"misdemeanor murder"-- that a killing will likely only net them 60
days before they're released. Incredibly the mayor, police chief and others
have managed to avoid addressing this issue or even talking about the inadequacies
of the DA's office and other law enforcement divisions.

Corruption

While the South has always been stereotyped as corrupt, the
scale of current problems in Louisiana and New Orleans cannot be overstated.
While there are honorable public officials, it has become clear that they are
fighting an uphill battle. Reconstruction finds have gone missing, projects
implemented have had no oversight, and materials and supplies intended to help
locals never reach their intended destination. On top of that a successful
lawsuit by employees of the New Orleans District Attorney's office for racial
discrimination in their firings may cost the city several million dollars. The
DA office has told the city council that if they do not cover the costs of that
suit, the office will have to even further curtail prosecution activities.

Another serious problem has been terrible management in the
offices handling building permits and city planning. Complicated paperwork and
regulations have made it increasingly difficult for homeowners to rebuild and
return to the city. While some claim the steps are necessary to prevent future
disasters, recent reporting by the local newspapers has suggested a pattern to
the roadblocks-- with certain neighborhoods targeted for more rigorous
inspections and increased delays. In turn, these properties have been snapped
up by other buyer-- some with suspicious backgrounds or clearly operating
through dummy operations. Accusations of corruption have also been leveled at
the groups deciding where redevelopment will be permitted and where they land
will simply be leveled. As a result, New Orleans remains at a population of
less than half of pre-Katrina and Sunder.

Adding to the uncertainty has been recent work by the
federal government to limit protections for whistleblowers. In New Orleans
these protections have been even more scarce. Several sources for recent
articles on corruption have been found dead or gone missing

Gangs and Organized Crime

All of this has left an open space that has been filled by
various criminal groups. The Hurricane Mafia, so-called because of their
connection to post-disaster reconstruction projects throughout the south, is
said to have heavily invested in making this city a new power base. As well due
to the high port traffic, it is believed that certain Chinese Triads have been
making a play for increased influence. Many of these gangs have strong
establishments in Brazil and other South American countries and are making that
a jumping off point to reach this entry into the US criminal network. But
homebrew organized crime has also spread.

Perhaps most notable of these are two
gangs. The first, Brick 14, began to grow after Katrina. Popular legend has it
that the leaders of this gang were left to die when authorities abandoned a
local jail. Housed in Block (or Brick) 14, they managed to survive and escape.
Their influence has grown and they've managed to push out other gangs-- many of
whom had members flee during both disasters. When those criminals returned they
found themselves faced with a choice of joining up, leaving, or getting killed.
The other prominent gang, B-Zerk, is has more questions surrounding it. It has
been suggested they are tied to another criminal organization or that they have
some super leading them. Little is known about them besides their penchant for
highly visible violence.

Lastly

"Perhaps the most serious blow to New Orleans'
ailing criminal justice system is the recent election of former Republican
Congressman Bobby Jindal as Lousiana's governor. Mr Jindal has boasted that he
will turn New Orleans-which is already profoundly suffering from a lack of
public resources-into a model of far right privatisation politics on such
issues as education and healthcare.

So, New Orleans speeds along to the sort of wholesale
destruction than even Katrina could not have wrought without anyone in major
leadership positions stepping up to stop the bloodletting. "The trouble
is," University of New Orleans criminologist Peter Scharf told me
recently, "there is no willing to stand up and say 'This is fucking
nuts.'"

DHS Conference on Paranormals to Meet in New Orleans

The Department of Homeland Security has selected New Orleans
as the site for national conference entitled, "Security and the Parahuman:
Issues and Options." Dedicated to developing a coherent national blueprint
for handling parahumans, it agenda will consider risk management, liability,
and terrorism. Scheduled for the first weekend of April, 2008, the conference
is the first of its kind to draw across many fields including governors, law
enforcement, scientists and others. "New Orleans should be a stark
reminder of the problems with face in America," stated conference
organizer and deputy FBI chief Moses Barks. "We hope the backdrop of this
city will encourage participants to take the need to develop policy
seriously."

Water Problems

The New Orleans Sewerage and Water Board announced today a
second boil warning for residents in selected parishes. Following the collapse
of a set of major feed pipes, the board has had to divert resources to maintain
pressure. As a result a certain amount of untreated water made its way into the
water supply. Officials estimate that water should be safe to use within 48 hours.
This is the second major water incident in the last two weeks. Some officials
have begun to question the competency of the NOSWB. There have been further
calls to privatize other facilities under the board's control, despite previous
problems with corruption in that area. In 2001, AquaAlliance, a wastewater
treatment company was convicted on ten counts of bribing officials in return
for preferential treatment in the bid process.

Water and wastewater treatment are two primary needs of
people in a community, so in addition to everything else you need to do, you
have to have that capacity in place before can rebuild," says James N.
Jensen, Ph.D., professor of civil, environmental and structural engineering and
director or the environmental science program in the UB School of Engineering
and Applied Sciences. Jensen estimates that there were probably about 100
million gallons of wastewater in the system in New Orleans when Sunder shut the
city down, and he says the EPA estimates that 200 wastewater treatment plants
and 1,100 drinking-water facilities in New Orleans were affected by the event.

Cybercrime Expansion

The City Council approved increased funding for the NOPD
Cybercrimes division after a series of well publicized crimes. The break up of
a major organized identity theft team operating out of St. Bernard Parish in
May brought the first attention to the topic. That the criminal had managed to
operate through Sunder's assault and keep up their infrastructure despite the
devastation to the parish around them have made police nervous that other like
criminal cells may be operating in areas given less attention. As well, the
discovery last week of a fourth victim of the so-called "MySpace
Killer" has caused additional outcry. Cybercrimes division chief Natalie
Deveraux said that the money would go towards improving the group's operations
in terms of personnel and more advanced equipment.

Marine Research Development

Adams Braeburn broke ground on his latest project, an
advanced Marine Research and Development facility in Plaquemines Parish. The
facility will look at the changes to marine life in the Gulf Coast region, the
impact of local environmental shifts, and research new technologies and
techniques to make use of the local marine resources. Located in a remote area
cleared by damage from Katrina, the facility should eventually provided 100+
jobs for the local area. "Eventually as we expand our vision, we hope to
employ even more locals," said Braeburn. This project represents the sixth
groundbreaking for the noted developer-industrialist since he came to New
Orleans. Despite having been Boston-born, Braeburn came to New Orleans after
Sunder's assault to offer aid and commit money and resources to the
redevelopment of the city. "So many people have turned their back on New
Orleans, but Braeburn Futures will not."